Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize | Digital health innovation

Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize

The Star Trek series has been a source of motivation for researchers, scientists, engineers, XPrize designers once again. Researchers are burning the midnight oil to develop smart medical devices and are working on digital health innovation.

The critical requirement for upgrades in public health and healthcare in the U.S. has caught the attention of government, citizens, and industry for quite a long time. Hence, Qualcomm, a global leading semiconductors and telecommunications equipment company along Xprize, ran a $10 million worldwide competition to put health care in the palm of your hand.

Goal of the competition

In the health care industry, a handful of innovations and methods present for consumers to procure direct medical benefit without visiting a medical professional at a hospital or clinic creating a vacuum.

Integrated and Innovative diagnostic technology – once accessible on a mobile device which is simple to use – will allow people to integrate health knowledge and critical decision-making into their everyday lives. With this objective, Qualcomm ran the big Tricorder Xprize competition.

Competition participation requirements

As per the Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize’s device necessities, the research teams were expected to develop a device with the following characteristics:

The device cannot weight more than 5pounds

Must be able to diagnose 13 medical conditions

Must capture5 real-time health vital signs

A real-life tricorder-like medical diagnostic device will have a series of benefits for physicians and patients globally. A modern-day medical portable device of such features could support and increase the reach of medical testing into many deprived areas around the world, regions which do not have the necessary access to well-resourced clinical labs.

The device would make testing more convenient and less expensive. Patients will get faster treatment, potentially saving lives. Eventually, patients will be using the device themselves if it is connected to their smartphone.Everyday decision-making will be simpler and more precise with the correct well-being data at your fingertips.

Best competitors with their best ideas

Team Final Frontier Medical Devices created a tricorder prototype, DxtER is a consumer diagnostic product intended to monitor your health and analyze diseases in the comfort of your home. The device functions autonomously, but can also share essential information with your health care providers. DxtER is integrated with an artificially intelligent machine that can diagnose by assimilating years of experience in health care emergency medicine with data analysis from real patient’s medical conditions and conclusions. DxtER is integrated with a collection of custom-designed sensors to collect data about your vital health signs, biological functions, and body chemistry. This diagnostic device produces your health data to make a quick and precise assessment.

The Dynamical Biomarkers Group built a system of 3 modules: Smart Scope Module, Smart Vital-Sense Monitor, Smart Blood-Urine Test Kit. The modules combined innovative hardware, technologies for biomarker detection, physiologic signal analysis, and image processing, and. The devices are designed in a way that can be wirelessly connected to a smartphone; which allows consumers to use them naturally and intuitively. The device runs a user-friendly app with an interactive and intelligent diagnostic process that leads the users through simple steps run accurate tests to generate disease analysis report.

Competition Schedule

The registration deadline was August 30, 2013, and submission deadline was on 15th May 2014.

In December 2015, XPRIZE declared that the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE has been formally extended through early 2017, enabling the finalist teams with additional time to adjust their tricorder devices to make sure they can thrive in the competition.

Down to two winners

Final Frontier Medical Devices&Dynamical Biomarkers Group, who will move to the final stage in the amazing $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, must undergo consumer testing over the next few months at the Altman Clinical Translational Research Institute at the University of California San Diego, and the winner will be declared in Q2, 2017.

However, we will eagerly wait for the announcement. It will be exciting to find out the winner.